On 11/27/04 1:21 PM, in article ,
"Jim Carlock" wrote:

"Rogerx" wrote:
Okay, the Root Knot Nematodes--Pull up one of your dead
vines- -if the roots has tiny small knots on them--you have a
nematode problem.

Thanks Roger.

Don't see anything that's attacking from the root or base of
the cucumbers. I know there's some type of beetles in the
ground but they don't seem to be too much of a problem. I've
got some centipedes, lizards, I've seen some really neat looking
sand critters (reminded me of scorpions but they looked more
like lightly colored miniature lobster looking bugs about 3/4"
long, 1/8th" to 1/4" wide/high). I find an occasional small tree
frog buried in some of the potted plants every so often. It's
really amazing how much stuff there is to see when one opens
their eyes to it all.

The leaves turning white and dying- -Could be a lack of trace
minerals necessary for making Chlorophyll - -could be PH of
your soil.(sand).

The leaves that turned pale (silvery) were attacked by whiteflies.
I did some research on those over the summer and I found that
spraying the undersides of the leaves with water to wash off
tiny flies helped the cucumber vines. But those vines never fruited
for some reason. Maybe the direct sun caused the no fruit problem.

The white flies though, killed some squash I had growing. And I
haven't ruled out that they could have prevented the cucumber vines
from fruiting.

One thing I'm very interested in is knowing if anyone else has
thrown coffee grounds on top of the base of a cucumber vine
and what the results were. I got away with it once but on the
second attempt (a couple weeks later or maybe a month later)
the vine started dying.

Banana peels work very well for cucumber vines, lemon balm,
and roses. One rose stem shot up to ten feet when I put the
whole banana peel around the base of the stem.

As far as fertilizer goes, I've got some ExpertGardner stuff
which is 15-30-15 and is green in color, contains some trace
iron, zinc, molybdenum and maybe two or three other trace
minerals. 1 tablespoon every two to four weeks seems to help
the cucumbers. It helped the grass out front as well with only
one application, although it looks like it's time for another
dose.

Oh yes, some Cucumbers require polination(Honey bees) to
produce--while others don't.

I have some wasps and bees flying around outside. Saw one
of each earlier. Maybe two or three wasps as I wasn't really
keeping count.

--
Jim Carlock
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I used to use chemical fertilizers until I found out more about their
use. They call chemical fertilizers plant food and rightly so. The problem
is that it does not 'nourish' the soil. The plants will grow but the soil is
sterile until you add some more chemical fertilizer. In other words the soil
is not sustainable on it's own. To be sustainable the soil needs worms...
There are studies that indicate that the addition of chemical
fertilizers actually kills worms. The reason being it changes the chemical
makeup of the soil so fast that the worms are traumatized and ultimately
die. Plus, and more importantly, the chemical fertilizers don't feed the
worms even if it didn't kill them. Worms eat vegetation: decomposing
vegetation: the stinkier the better! You see what is 'stinky' to us is
gourmet lunch for the worms!
I feed my worms and they love me! (You haven't been loved until you have
been loved by a worm! vbg )
Bill